Ant Attack

Last night, these not so friendly (now-dead) ants decided to invade our front porch.
Paul discovered them when he went out to put his bicycle in the storage shed after dark. He didn't turn the porch light on, so unfortunately he stepped right into the swarm. He felt the stinging pain in his foot, realized what was happening, and quickly got out of the way. Thankfully, he was wearing flip-flops or else he might have had many more painful bites!

In Swahili, these nasty little guys are called sungusungu (biting ants). As I search the internet, they appear to be a species of army ant. Don't quote me on this, though. I'm definitely not a scientist!

One thing I do know, though. We'll be much more careful to turn on the porch light if we go outside again after dark!

Birthday Season

I haven't blogged in a while. Today, I'll blame this on the fact that we've recently reached the end of what we've come to call "birthday season" in my house, and this time of the year makes me tired and drains my creativity reserves.

Three of the four of us Heffts have a birthday in August and September: Josiah on August 5, Anna on September 8, and me on September 19. Last year, we were in orientation and language school during birthday season and weren't able to throw parties for the kids like normal, so taking that fact into consideration, I purposed to put on special, memorable (hopefully) parties for the kids this year. And it all went pretty well, except for the fact that it took me nearly a week to recover after each of the parties.

One thing I learned during my first real Tanzanian birthday season: I miss my neighborhood Wal-mart and party store in the States! Although, I was able to put on fun events for the kids, it took me a lot more time and internet-scouring to get things together. And I definitely had to put on my "crafty-lady" hat. Because I couldn't just run over to Wal-mart and buy all the neatly packaged party supplies I needed, I ended up creating a lot of the games and decorations myself.

But thankfully, I didn't have to do it all myself. Aladdin's Cave, the small ice cream parlor in town, carries a lot of little plastic trinkets and candies, so they were my go-to shop for creating party favor bags. We also have a decent stationery duka (shop) in town that carries supplies like glitter, birthday tiaras, kid-themed pencils, poster board, and ribbon. What I couldn't find in town, I tried to make myself.

Josiah's 6th birthday party was the biggest, and took the most work. He loves all things marine-life, so we decided together on a shark theme. He has quite a few friends in Dodoma, so we ended up with 16 children at the party! Thankfully, we have a large common area in our compound, so I was able to have it outside.

As they arrived, the kids made a shark necklace out of twine, paper shark cutouts and dyed pasta.

Next, we played games like "What time is it Mr. Shark? (similar to What time is it Mr. Wolf?), Feed the Shark (the kids threw homemade fish beanbags into a cardboard shark box I had made), Water Brigade, and Fish, Fish, Shark (like Duck, Duck, Goose).

Finally, we had snacks and cake.

For Anna's big day, she requested a princess party. Because she was turning four, we catered this party for the (mostly) under 5 set and only had 8 party-goers this time. This was a very good thing considering that the school planned an afternoon parent's meeting right in the middle of Anna's party, which meant that my right hand man had to leave half way through the event.

When the kids arrived, they decorated foam prince/princess crowns (Thanks, Mom for sending all that craft foam. It was a lifesaver!)
We played games like Pin the Kiss on the Frog Prince, Musical Magic Carpets, and Find the Pea.

And, again, we ate cake.

I'm pretty sure the kids had a wonderful time at both of their parties, and that made me feel good. However, I was beyond exhausted at the the same time. So, when my birthday rolled around 10 days after Anna's, we kept the celebrating pretty low-key. We had a few friends over for coffee, cake, and conversation.
I did make my own birthday cake (which I actually enjoy), but my friend, Julie Anne, also made me a delicious pavlova.
It's been a good birthday season in the Hefft house, but I'm glad it won't roll around for another year!

First Day of School

Celebrating Grandpa

One of the wonderful benefits of marriage is gaining a whole new family. When I became a Hefft nine years ago, not only did I gain a husband, but I also gained new parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. All of them welcomed me with open arms, a blessing I don't take for granted.

One of those new family members was Howard Eppler, Paul's maternal grandfather. I knew who Howard was for a long time before I started dating his grandson. He and Virgina attended my home church, always seated in the right center section of the auditorium every Sunday, three or four rows from the front. When Paul and I started dating, I got to know Grandpa and Grandma Eppler better. We had dinner at their house several times. We talked more at church. Their acceptance and love for me was instantaneous. Howard and Virgina became my grandparents, and I became their granddaughter.

On Saturday, July 17, at 9:45pm Grandpa graduated to his heavenly home after struggling with failing health for several years. Tomorrow, family and friends will be gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate his life and lay his body to rest.

Unfortunately, we won't be physically present at the funeral (although one of our cousin's is working on setting up a Skype call so we can see and hear the service!), so I wanted to share some of my favorite memories of the man we were blessed to call our grandfather.

Our first date. No, not for Paul and me, for me and Grandpa. The spring before Paul and I were married, Grandpa Eppler asked me if I would accompany him to a Calvary Bible College banquet, since Grandma Eppler was ill in the hospital. I thought it was sweet that he would ask me to join him. He even brought me a flower. Another sweet memory from that night: during the banquet he got a call from Grandma saying she wasn't feeling well. He quickly and politely ditched me, and sped to his wife's side. His love and concern for her was so evident.

The way he said my name. I'll never forget the way he would smile and greet me with a hearty, "Hi, Mel!" whenever I would arrive. He always seemed happy to see me.

Watching him with my kids. I'm so glad Josiah and Anna had the chance to get to know their great-grandfather. They always loved to go next door and "visit" Grandpa and Grandma Eppler whenever we were staying with Mom and Dad Hefft in Arizona.

Josiah in "Grandpa's bike"

Grandpa holding Anna for the first time

Kansas City Chiefs. Grandpa liked football, especially the Kansas City Chiefs. Even after he moved to Arizona, Grandpa still kept up with Chiefs' games. I'll never forget the day, I walked into his apartment and there he sat, eating a bag of chips and watching an old game from the early 90s. It made me smile.

Bonding with our brother-in-law, Ben, as they watched Chiefs stats being posted live on the internet while we celebrated Christmas at our house in Dallas in 2007.

His amazing memory. I'm fairly detail oriented, but Grandpa Eppler gave the term a whole new meaning. When he told a story, you always got dates, times, locations...everything.

Listening to him pray. Howard Eppler was a prayer warrior. Several times while I was in Arizona, I had the opportunity to "eavesdrop" on Grandpa and Grandma Eppler as they sat together after breakfast to read the Bible and pray. I heard him pray in detail for each of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Then, he went through recent missionary prayer letters and lifted up those requests to the Lord. Praise God they were on our prayer team. His prayers for us will be missed!

The last time we saw him. I'll never forget the last time we saw him on this earth. Our family gathered together in their little apartment in Arizona, and Grandpa prayed over us. Then we took a family picture, hugged, and said our goodbyes, not knowing if we would see each other again on this side of heaven. One month later, our family would get on an airplane and fly here to Tanzania, where we would begin assisting the work of Bible translation. A veteran missionary, Grandpa was passionate about world missions, and he had even spent 10 years serving in our particular organization, so I know he was excited about what we were going off to do.

Even though we wish we could be with family this weekend as they celebrate Grandpa Eppler's life, we know he would rather we stay here in Tanzania and continue the work of advancing the Gospel. We're proud to do what we can carry on his legacy of serving our Lord and Savior.

Thank you, Grandpa, for the example you set before us. We love you! You'll be missed!

Conference

On Monday, our family returned from our branch conference. Once a year, the members of our branch gather together in one place to reconnect, relax, worship, and conduct branch business. Here are a few snapshots from our time at Turtle Bay:

CONFERENCE WAS...

• Stepping back into the West, but with East African flair. Because of the size of our branch, we get an amazing deal on accommodations at an all-inclusive seaside resort on the Kenyan Coast. Even though we sat in a lot of meetings, it still felt like vacation.

• Putting faces with names. Since this was our first conference, we enjoyed getting to meet colleagues from all over Tanzania and Uganda.

• Worshiping in our mother tongue! Paul loved getting the opportunity to use his guitar to help lead a few sessions.

• A week-long VBS program for our kids. A team from a member's supporting church came to Kenya to put on a kid's program for the children in our branch. Since Sunday School is rare where we live and work, this was a HUGE treat for our kids.

• Taking communion as a branch. Simple. Reverent. Wonderful.
  

• Reconnecting with good friends from orientation and language school. Since we all live in different areas of Tanzania, it was fun to be back in one place again.

• Water polo. Both the men and women played fun, yet intense matches.

• Eating great food that I didn't have to cook. The main restaurant served a wonderful buffet each day, and the hotel had an excellent pizza restaurant too!

• Cappuccino! I think I drank more cappuccinos last week than I have in an entire year. No Starbucks in Dodoma. :(

• Josiah learning to swim. One of the childcare volunteers worked with him one afternoon, and before we knew it, he was dog-paddling across the pool.

• Ocean breezes, playing in the sand, and searching tide pools for tropical fish. Anytime I'm at the beach, I'm a happy woman. So are my kids.

• Remembering. This year our branch celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It was exciting to hear about all God has done.

After a wonderful week at conference, I came away refreshed, recharged, and ready to get back to ministry, doing our part to see Ugandans and Tanzanians have the opportunity to read Scripture in their mother tongue. I can't wait for next year!

Picnicking

Today, some friends and I took advantage of the school holiday and took our kids on a picnic at a reservoir in the hills overlooking Dodoma.

Anna had fun with her friend, Esther.

We took a hike.

We even saw a scarecrow in someone's vegetable garden.

To round out the morning, we had a lovely picnic together. What a lovely Friday!

Kongwa

The other day, I realized that it has been nearly 6 months since I slept somewhere other than Dodoma. To my on-the-go husband, who has happily traveled nearly every month since we moved here, staying put in one place for that long is highly undesirable.

So, he suggested that maybe it was time for us to get away as a family (and pull me away from my little cocoon. Yes, I'm a happy homebody.) On Friday, Josiah completed his final term of the school year, so we figured this might be a good time to plan a short getaway.

Some friends of ours told us about a historic guest house nestled in the mountains just outside the town of Kongwa (about an hour away from Dodoma), so we decided to give it a try.

The guest house, Westgate Hostel, sits on the St. Phillips Theological College compound. According to a plaque on the front of the building, it was built in 1914 by a Canadian missionary. Cool! We stayed on the top floor, and had to climb some rickety stairs to get there. The space inside wasn't anything fancy, but it was definitely full of character. (They just don't make windows like that anymore.)
It was also comfortable and clean, and was just the kind of change of pace that I didn't know I needed.

It was quiet. It had a nice view. It had no neighbors. (Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my neighbors, but I guess that sometimes - even for this homebody - it is nice to be off our housing compound.) We were only in Kongwa for one night, but we had a nice, relaxing time.

We ate good food.

The boys did some hiking.
(We tried taking Anna, but it didn't work out so well. "That was a hard trail, Mommy," she told me.)

They saw some great views.

We spent the rest of our time resting, watching a movie or two, and talking. It was nice.

As we headed home, Paul and I commented to each other that we need to make getting away as a family now and then more of a habit, even if it's only for a night. Change of pace is a good thing.